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Topic: Fork oil vs. Air Gap in 2002 B12 (Read 324 times)

So here's something that has me scratching my head (no, it's not lice). Fork oil capacity vs. Air gap '02 gsf1200. The manual shows this (pic below). How do I know which Bandit I have? In any case, the differences are really small. Here's the actual problem:

When I put in the correct amount of fluid in the fork leg, the level is WAAAAAAY lower than it should be. Like at least 40mm too low (caliper extension stays dry when dipped at 140mm). And yes the fork tube is as low as it can go. I removed the damper assembly to check the parts/sleeves etc and all were good, so I reinstalled it with a new gem copper crush washer. Ensured the leg was perfectly vertical. Added 508ml fluid. Then I did the pump and wait movements per the manual. No change. It really looks like it's gonna need at least 300ml more... which is crazy...which is making me crazy. One of the two specifications has to be wrong - either fluid capacity or air gap.

I could just button it up with the "proper capacity" and this huge air gap, I guess... ?

E-3, E-22 are versions for different countries. It is based on market for which bike was originally destined. If you are not sure about it, you can try to match these to other identifiers on bike. On B4, carbs also have identifiers stamped on them which are different for different countries and manual contains a table listing which carb codes match which country codes. Try to check these. Code looks like 10D30 or something like that. YMMV. List of markets and E- identifiers is at the beginning of workshop manual.

Are you sure your bike has stock front fork and hasn't been swapped for something better in the past? 508ml seems like a reasonable amount of oil for stock non-USD non-adjustable fork. I've been replacing oil in my forks recently and had opposite situation. I poured 495ml into each leg and had to remove about 1-2ml from each leg to get correct fluid level. I expect this was because of residual oil which left in leg.

Hiya. I still don't know what happened here... But I fixed the problem by starting over. I dumped out the oil that was in there. I measured new oil per factory spec and put it in and lo and behold, I had to remove about 20ml to get to the proper air gap. Reassembled it with 12.5wt oil and a set cheap/non-progressive springs that work GREAT (got em on ebay). That with the 'busa rear shock and this thing handles great.